The League’s annual prizegiving and Coast vs Country match took place on 3rd June at the Manor Hotel, Exmouth.
A number of factors led to the match being a very one-sided affair this year. Firstly, several of Exmouth’s top players were unavailable for one reason or another and the largest club, Sidmouth, failed to produce a single player, which meant that the Coast could only raise 12 players. These had to be supplemented by a number of players from Exeter and Newton Abbot in order to get even numbers.
Over the top 9 boards, the points were shared 4.5 each, but below that, the Coast could only muster 2 points, and one of them came from an on-loan Exeter player. The Coast were well-outgraded on 17 of the 19 boards, so perhaps did well to get 6.5 points. Perhaps the new Coast captain next year (whoever that might be) will be able to get a better response, otherwise some re-thinking might have to be done about the format. Perhaps a version of the DCCA’s old President vs Match Captain’s match, whereby teams are picked on the night from whoever turns up. First “picker” chooses one player while the next chooses two. Food for thought, anyway. The games will appear on the League website asap.
The details were:-
| 3rd June 2014 | Manor Hotel | |||||
| Bd | Coast Team | Grd | Country Team | Grd | ||
| 1 | M. Shaw | 176 | 0 | 1 | Dr. T. J. Paulden | 184 |
| 2 | Dr. J. Underwood | 171 | 1 | 0 | Dr. D. Regis | 180 |
| 3 | O. E. Wensley | 157 | 0 | 1 | G. Body | 166 |
| 4 | B. G. Gosling | 152 | ½ | ½ | Dr. C. E. Keen | 141 |
| 5 | A. S. Kinder | 152 | 1 | 0 | J. Duckham | 147 |
| 6 | C. J. Scott | 145 | ½ | ½ | I. S. Annetts | 152 |
| 7 | W. R. P.Taylor | 139 | 0 | 1 | W. T. Marjoram | 142 |
| 8 | M. Belt | 129 | 1 | 0 | J. Waley | 132 |
| 9 | R. K. Hunt | 125 | ½ | ½ | E. J. Palmer | 133 |
| 10 | R. H. Jones | 132 | 0 | 1 | D. Thomson | u/g |
| 11 | F. R. Hodge | 98 | 0 | 1 | J. Knowles | 128 |
| 12 | Mrs. H. Welch | 109 | 0 | 1 | J. Amos | 129 |
| 13 | M. A. Haines | 91 | 0 | 1 | R. A. Scholes | 103 |
| 14 | M. Lee | u/g | 1 | 0 | J. Maloney | 110 |
| 15 | T. Badlan | 79 | 0 | 1 | E. Kelly | 103 |
| 16 | T. Miner | u/g | 0 | 1 | R. Player | 95 |
| 17 | B. Marsh | 49 | 0 | 1 | G. J. Jenkins | 112 |
| 18 | L. Hafstead | u/g | 1 | 0 | A. Brinkley | 80 |
| 19 | T. Murray | u/g | 0 | 1 | T. Finch | 90 |
| 6½ | 12½ |
The match was preceded by the prizegiving, at which League President Brian Aldwin presented the five cups on display.
| Premiership Div. 1 | |||||||
| Teams | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | tot | ||
| 1 | Newton Abbot | X | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | Cottew Cup |
| 2 | Exeter Rooks | 1 | X | 0 | 2 | 3 | |
| 3 | Exeter Bishops | 2 | 0 | X | 1 | 3 | Turner Cup |
| 4 | Tiverton Titans | 0 | 0 | 1 | X | 1 |
| Championship Div. 2 | ||||||||
| Teams | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | tot | ||
| 1 | Exeter Gambits | X | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | Polsloe Cup |
| 2 | Seaton | 0 | X | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | Mainstay Cup |
| 3 | Sidmouth | 0 | 0 | X | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| 4 | Tiverton | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 2 | 2 | |
| 5 | East Budleigh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | X | 1 |
| RapidPlay | |||||||||
| Teams | P | W | L | D | F | A | Bonus | Tot | |
| 1 | Tiverton | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 7 | 3 | 14 |
| 2 | Sidmouth | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 12½ | 11½ | 2 | 8 |
| 3 | Exeter Prestissimo | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 12 | 1 | 7 |
| 4 | Exeter Gambits | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 6½ | 17½ | 0 | 1 |
Andrew Kinder receives the Cottew Cup on behalf of Newton Abbot
Charles Keen receives the Premiership team Grading Prize.
Championship winners Exeter Gambits l-r Richard Scholes, Eddy Palmer, R. Player & Brian Aldwin.
Hazel Welch receives the Mainstay Cup as Seaton's team grading prize
Ivor Annetts receives the RapidPlay prize for the Tiverton Timebombs